Written Answers Friday 11 September 2009

Scottish Executive

Bankruptcy

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review the operation of the low income, low assets (LILA) route to bankruptcy and (a) abolish the £100 application fee and (b) provide access to LILA for homeowners.

Fergus Ewing: A review of the low income, low assets (LILA) route into bankruptcy after one year of operation is currently being conducted by the Accountant in Bankruptcy and a report will be published by the end of September 2009.

  The £100 application fee is payable by all debtors who apply for bankruptcy not just those who demonstrate eligibility by virtue of the LILA criteria. The fee is intended to meet the administration costs associated with the award process. We do not expect the review to produce evidence to support the abolition of the debtor application fee. If there were no fee, the administration costs would otherwise have to be borne by the public purse.

  By definition, LILA allows for assets of low value only. The amendment of the LILA criteria to allow access through this route to homeowners would result in increased costs for debtors, and for the Accountant in Bankruptcy, to establish that there was little or no equity in the home.

  We are looking at alternatives to allow access to bankruptcy for a wider group of people by way of a certificated route. This will allow homeowners access to bankruptcy if they consider this is the best course of action for them.

Civil Servants

John Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many civil servants are currently overseas on secondment, broken down by (a) directorate from which they are seconded, (b) pay grade and (c) country to which they are seconded.

John Swinney: We only hold information on civil servants employed by the Scottish Government. As at 31 August 2009 there were four Scottish Government civil servants on secondment overseas.

  

 Number
 Directorate from which they are Seconded
 Pay Grade
 Country Seconded to


 1
 Culture, External Affairs and Tourism
 C1
 Belgium


 1
 Culture, External Affairs and Tourism
 B Fast Stream
 Belgium


 1
 Business, Enterprise and Energy
 B2
 Belgium


 1
 Business, Enterprise and Energy
 C1
 Australia

Civil Servants

John Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many civil servants are currently employed overseas, broken down by (a) directorate, (b) pay grade and (c) country in which they are employed.

John Swinney: We only hold information on civil servants employed by the Scottish Government. As at 31 August 2009 there were eight Scottish Government civil servants from the Directorate of Culture, External Affairs and Tourism employed overseas.

  

 Number
 Pay Grade
 Country


 1
 Senior Civil Service Pay Band 1A
 Belgium


 1
 Senior Civil Service Pay Band 1A
 America


 2
 C2
 Belgium


 1
 C1
 Belgium


 1
 B3
 America


 2
 B2
 Belgium

Digital Technology

David Stewart (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans there are to improve broadband services to the Isle of Eigg.

Jim Mather: Following successful completion of the Scottish Government’s Broadband Reach Project in May 2009, the Scottish Government has already extended basic broadband connectivity (defined as 512Kbps) to the Isle of Eigg. This is in line with the Scottish Government’s commitment to provision of basic broadband to known demand. The project is currently providing a broadband service to over 2,100 premises previously unable to receive a broadband service due to distance from the exchange, including 37 properties on Eigg.

Education

Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) assesses and reports on sustainable development and sustainable development education in further education colleges.

Fiona Hyslop: HMIE assesses and reports on the quality of education provision in Scotland’s colleges on behalf of the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council (SFC). The quality framework that HMIE and most colleges use to underpin their judgements about standards and quality contains four themes relating to sustainable development. HMIE reports arising from the evaluative activities include, where appropriate, references to sustainability. In addition, HMIE include examples of sector leading and innovative practice on sustainability on its website. HMIE will publish an aspect report on sustainability in October 2009.

Education

Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how HM Inspectorate of Education assesses and reports on sustainable development and sustainable development education in primary schools.

Fiona Hyslop: In September 2008, HMIE introduced more streamlined models of inspection in primary and secondary schools. These models now place a much greater emphasis on the school’s own self-evaluation and reduce the burden of documentation and administration required of schools. As part of HMIE’s new, proportionate inspection process, they evaluate and report on five National Quality Indicators (QIs) in school inspections. The quality of the school’s curriculum is one of these five indicators. Amongst other aspects, there is an expectation that sustainable development education will form an increasingly important part of the evaluations arrived at during an inspection, particularly in coming to a view on the quality of the curriculum.

Education

Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) assesses and reports on sustainable development and sustainable development education in secondary schools.

Fiona Hyslop: In September 2008, HMIE introduced more streamlined models of inspection in primary and secondary schools. These models now place a much greater emphasis on the school’s own self-evaluation and reduce the burden of documentation and administration required of schools. As part of HMIE’s new, proportionate inspection process, they evaluate and report on five National Quality Indicators (QIs) in school inspections. The quality of the school’s curriculum is one of these five indicators. Amongst other aspects, there is an expectation that sustainable development education will form an increasingly important part of the evaluations arrived at during an inspection, particularly in coming to a view on the quality of the curriculum.

Education

Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason HM Inspectorate of Education’s (HMIE) reports on further education colleges have explicit sections on sustainable development and sustainable development education but its reports on primary and secondary schools do not.

Fiona Hyslop: HMIE reports on colleges do not contain explicit sections on sustainable development and sustainable development education. This is the same situation as for primary and secondary school reports. This is because sustainability is seen as one of many potential cross-curricular aspects which can be reflected in many areas of the work of a school or college. The framework of quality indicators and themes used in school inspections and college reviews include themes relating to sustainability and these are considered as part of the inspection and review process. As a result, references are made regularly to aspects of sustainability in report text without it being an explicit section. In addition, reports from each of these three sectors may include, where it is warranted, examples of sector leading, good practice in sustainability.

Education

Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to include reference to sustainable development in How Good is Our School? .

Fiona Hyslop: There are specific references to sustainability and sustainable development education in the current version of How Good Is Our School?

  In the National Quality Indicator (QI) 4.2, The school’s success in working with and engaging the wider community, the level 5 illustration (for a "very good" evaluation) refers to "environmental aims" and includes the statement – "We educate for sustainability…"

  In QI 6.3, Planning for improvement, one of the key themes is "Planning for Sustainability" and the level 5 illustration refers to the need to "… take account of sustainability in planning improvements."

  In QI 8.3, Management and use of resources and space for learning, there is direct reference to the use of the local environment and the level 5 illustration includes the statement, "Our resources are managed in a sustainable way."

  In QI 5.1, The Curriculum, the indicator relates to the ways that aspects of the curriculum develop pupil’s capacities as defined in Curriculum for Excellence. It is implicit therefore that, in order to achieve a positive evaluation in this QI, these aspects must be present. In Curriculum for Excellence, to enable young people to become responsible citizens, for example, reference is made to the need to evaluate environmental, scientific and technological issues and develop informed, ethical views of complex issues. Sustainability and sustainable development education are unambiguously included in the outcomes frameworks for several subject areas, including the sciences and social studies.

Education

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how reducing the number of pupils eligible for the Education Maintenance Allowance by over 6,000 per year is consistent with its desire for a better-educated Scotland.

Fiona Hyslop: Based on an analysis of recipients of EMA in academic year 2007-08, it is estimated that around 3,700 young people will not qualify for an Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) due to the removal of £10 and £20 payments.

  We know from previous research carried out under the last administration that some young people would have stayed on at school regardless of EMA and that the maximum £30 award has a greater impact on young people’s participation than the £10 or £20 awards.

  We also know that some of our most vulnerable young people – from the lowest income families – do not want to stay at school and are not ready to go to college. That is why we are reinvesting the money saved from refocusing the EMA in developing our pilots of Activity Agreements.

  For some of our most vulnerable young people, learning in a community or third sector setting will be the best option when they reach their school leaving age. Activity Agreements will, for the first time, treat this as a genuinely mainstream option for young people and improve the way they and their families are supported.

Education

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much worse off pupils from families in Scotland with a household income of £25,000 will be compared with their English counterparts due to the differences in Education Maintenance Allowance.

Fiona Hyslop: The EMA programme has been fully devolved since 2007-08 and the English and Scottish EMA programmes are not directly comparable.

  No young people will be made worse off as the changes to the system are only being introduced for new entrants. Young people who have previously qualified for EMA will continue to be eligible at the previous rates.

  The changes we have made this year removed eligibility for the £10 and £20 awards. A young person from a family with a household income of £25,000 would previously have been eligible for a £20 award. On average, young people in receipt of the £20 award received £744 in total in academic year 2007-08.

Employment

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what direct representation it has made to the UK Government since 25 June 2009 on measures to tackle the rise in unemployment.

Fiona Hyslop: On 25 August 2009, I met Jim Knight, Minister of State for Work and Pensions, to discuss a range of matters. I again highlighted the importance of joint working to develop and implement policies to support people into sustained work. We agreed to establish regular contact on the issue.

  On 7 September, the First Minister and I met the Secretary of State for Scotland at the Economic Quadrilateral meeting with the Scottish Trade Unions Council and CBI Scotland. The agenda for that meeting focussed on the rise in unemployment and all parties agreed to take forward communication and improvement of the support available to the unemployed at a conference to be held later this year.

  I also requested a meeting with Yvette Cooper, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. This will take place in November.

Energy

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what incentives are in place for people to opt out of the electricity grid system and be entirely energy self-sufficient.

Jim Mather: The Scottish Government is committed to supporting and accelerating uptake of renewable energy technologies to allow people to tap into Scotland’s abundant local sources of renewable heat and power thereby helping them be more energy self-sufficient.

  We have tripled support for community and microgeneration to £13.5 million per year and through our Energy Saving Scotland Home Renewables and Community And Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) grant programmes, provide funding and free independent advice to householders and not-for-profit community-based organisations to help them install renewable energy technologies.

  We also offer financial help and free expert advice to small businesses who wish to be more energy self-sufficient through our Energy Saving Scotland small business loans scheme.

Fuel Poverty

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding was allocated for the Energy Assistance Package and how much has been spent to date.

Alex Neil: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-21692 on 1 April 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx .

  The £3.6 million allocated to Energy Savings Trust to manage the Energy Assistance Package is drawn down monthly on a flat profile therefore £1.545 million has been spent to end August.

  Citizens Advice Direct has received funding of £40,000 from a total annual grant of £80,000 to provide income maximisation checks under EAP as part of a wider programme of financial inclusion activity.

  £2.5 million has been allocated to local authorities and RSLs to deliver insulation measures in social sector accommodation. Spend against this budget is historically drawn down in the third and fourth quarters of the financial year.

  Spend to date against the £44.5 million for stage 4 and legacy fuel poverty programme measures is £10.2 million. This is in line with the expected profile as spend on installation measures is traditionally weighted towards the last two quarters of the financial year.

Genealogy

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of any joint family history centres and whether it will detail where they are located, broken down by local authority.

John Swinney: All local authorities offer assisted family history searches, provided by the registrar of births, deaths and marriages. A joint family history centre brings together that service with access to the other local authority sources of most interest to family historians – notably those held in the local archives and library. Very few authorities integrate all these sources but we are aware of the following local centres, involving the local registers of births etc and more than one of the other sources:

  Dundee City Council: Dundee

  East Ayrshire Council: Kilmarnock

  Glasgow City Council: Glasgow

  Highland Council: Inverness (from October 2009)

  Scottish Borders Council: Hawick.

  Other centres are planned by a further eight local authorities.

Genealogy

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to encourage the growth of family history centres.

John Swinney: The ScotlandsPeople partnership between the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS), the National Archives of Scotland (NAS) and the Court of the Lord Lyon has made the key central government records more easily accessible – at the ScotlandsPeople Centre in Edinburgh and on the internet at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk . The same records are being made available to local authorities which set up family history centres bringing together the range of local sources of interest to genealogists. We see ancestral tourism as an important way to promote economic growth and we welcome the establishment of local centres which help spread that benefit throughout Scotland, as well as improving access for residents who want to research their ancestry locally.

Justice

John Lamont (Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many police officers were required to guard Mr Kafeel Ahmed in a Glasgow hospital from 30 June to 2 August 2007.

Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S3O-7591 on 3 September, which is available from the official report on the Parliament’s website:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0903-02.htm#Col19271.

Justice

John Lamont (Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost was of guarding Mr Kafeel Ahmed in a Glasgow hospital from 30 June to 2 August 2007.

Kenny MacAskill: This is an operational matter for Strathclyde Police.

Ministerial Correspondence

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth has responded to the letter of 2 June 2009 from a member of the public regarding the accuracy of his parliamentary answer on bullying.

John Swinney: This matter is between the Scottish Government and the member of the public, who was an ex employee of the Scottish Government, and is being handled in accordance with procedures.

Ministerial Meetings

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what topics the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth discussed with Sir John Arbuthnott at their meeting on 15 July 2009.

John Swinney: I met with Sir John Arbuthnott at his request, to be provided with an update on progress with his independent review, which was commissioned by the Clyde Valley Partnership of Local Authorities.

NHS Staff

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-23897 by Nicola Sturgeon on 21 May 2009, how many NHS boards have now completed the Agenda for Change review process for health sciences, broken down by board and date of completion.

Nicola Sturgeon: As I explained in my previous reply, decisions on how the review process is progressed, such as the order in which each job family is dealt with, are taken in partnership at local level. Different boards will, therefore, be dealing with the Healthcare Sciences staff group at different times and in different ways. An update on the information provided previously is given in the following table. This contains the most recently available data from 31 July 2009.

  

 Health Board
 Number of Healthcare Sciences Postholders covered by Review Requests Received
 Number of Healthcare Sciences Postholders covered by Review Requests which have been Processed


 Ayrshire and Arran
 299
 276


 Borders
 70
 70


 Dumfries and Galloway
 26
 0


 Fife
 53
 14


 Forth Valley
 67
 13


 Greater Glasgow and Clyde
 800
 0


 Grampian
 417
 415


 Highland
 191
 90


 Lanarkshire
 89
 45


 Lothian
 724
 148


 Orkney
 4
 4


 Shetland
 4
 3


 Tayside
 418
 114


 Western Isles
 8
 8


Golden Jubilee NationalHospital 
 4
 2


 Scottish Ambulance Service
 0
 0


 NHS24
 0
 0


 NHS Education for Scotland
 0
 0


 NHS Health
 0
 0


 NHS Quality Improvement Scotland
 0
 0


 National Services Scotland
 383
 383


 State Hospital 
 0
 0


 Totals
 3,557
 1,585



  Of the four boards who have completed all reviews in this staff group, Borders finished in July 2008, Orkney in October 2008, Western Isles in March 2009 and NHS National Services Scotland completed reviews for this job family in June 2009. Greater Glasgow and Clyde aim to complete reviews by the end of 2009 with the exception of staff employed in the Regional Virus Laboratory who are involved in flu pandemic work. For such staff operational priorities may necessarily delay review completion. However, Greater Glasgow and Clyde are currently undertaking additional job matching training courses to increase the pool of job matchers thereby ensuring sufficient resources are in place to complete the review programme as quickly as possible.

Non-Departmental Public Bodies

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what its definition is of a (a) quango and (b) public sector body.

John Swinney: There is no single legal definition of the expression quango or public sector body. However, the baseline list of national devolved public bodies which the government announced in October 2007 comprises:

  Scottish Government executive agencies;

  Non Ministerial Departments of the Scottish Administration;

  Executive Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs);

  Advisory NDPBs;

  Tribunals;

  Public corporations;

  NHS boards and special health boards;

  Parliamentary Commissioners and Ombudsman, and

  Other significant national bodies.

  Full details are available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/public-bodies/Baseline-List-2007

Parliamentary Questions

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive why question S3W-25137, lodged on 23 June 2009, has not yet been given a substantive answer.

John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-25137 on 10 September 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx .

Planning

Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider amending planning legislation to ensure that applicants have authorisation from the relevant landowners before lodging planning applications.

Stewart Stevenson: We have no plans to amend planning legislation to require applicants to obtain the authorisation of owners of land before applying for planning permission for said land.

  The planning application process is concerned with whether a particular development proposal at a particular location is acceptable in planning terms. It is for any prospective developer to obtain, amongst other things, the necessary property rights – through lease or purchase for example - to exercise a planning permission. The latter is not part of the planning application process.

Renewable Energy

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-25934 by Jim Mather on 17 August 2009, where the proposed grid infrastructure projects under the EU’s Economic Recovery Programme are located.

Jim Mather: The European Energy Programme for Recovery invited bids for funding from a specific range of energy infrastructure projects, including a number of offshore wind projects, grid connections in the North Sea and development of carbon capture and storage technologies. As a result, bids from Scottish bodies have been submitted relating to the European offshore wind farm testing centre in Aberdeen, a Carbon Capture and Storage project and development of offshore interconnections off the north and west of Scotland. Details of successful bids will be published by the European Commission in due course.

Scottish Government Staff

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many temporary or agency staff are employed in each of its directorates.

John Swinney: The numbers of fixed term appointments, student placements and agency staff on assignment with the Scottish Government at 31 July 2009 are shown in the following table. We are only able to supply information on numbers at Director General level.

  

 Director General
Number of Temporary Staff


 Economy
 24


 Education
 41


 Environment
 135


 Finance and Corporate Services
 86


 Health
 84


 Justice
 113


 Permanent Secretary
 4


 Total
 487

Scottish Government Staff

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost to it has been of employing temporary or agency staff in each of the last five years.

John Swinney: Temporary staff are used by the Scottish Government to cover temporary staffing needs for a number of reasons including pressures arising from maternity leave, sick leave, project work, unanticipated crisis and critical vacancies. Fixed term appointments are generally used when the staffing need is temporary, but longer term or the agencies are unable to supply.

  The cost of employing temporary and agency staff in 2008 was £7,530,909.

  There are no comparable costs for 2004 to 2006 as the costs for these years only include the costs of agency staff. Costs of fixed term appointments are only available from September 2007. The figure for 2007 includes the costs of fixed term appointments from September 2007.

  

 Year
 2004
 2005
 2006
 2007


 Cost £
 4,252,839
 6,589,548
 5,449,216
 5,985,480



  Notes: 1. The costs include all costs to the core Scottish Government but do not include VAT for agency workers or costs under agency worker contracts which are not managed centrally.

Voluntary Sector

Jim Tolson (Dunfermline West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish the report into how the third sector contributes to the Scottish Government’s strategic objectives with particular reference to the potential for social enterprises to deliver health benefits.

John Swinney: The Evidence Base for Third Sector Policy in Scotland: A review of selected recent literature will be published this autumn. The need for follow up research into the opportunities for the third sector to maximise its potential contribution to the delivery of high quality health care services in Scotland is currently being considered.

Waste Management

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what targets it has set for (a) itself and (b) public sector bodies for reducing waste and whether it has set reporting requirements by type of waste.

John Swinney: Information relating to waste reduction and other environmental performance targets for the Scottish Government is detailed in the Scottish Government Environmental Performance Annual Report for 2007-08 which was published in May 2009, copies of which are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 48458).

  Information relating to the targets set by public sector bodies for reducing waste is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. The responsibility for setting and publishing targets currently rests with the individual public bodies.

Waste Management

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much paper it used each year over the last three years.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government purchased the following volumes of paper in the last three years:

  

 Year
Volume (sheets)


 April 2006 - March 2007
 20,107,429


 April 2007 - March 2008
 31,054,298


 April 2008 – March 2009
 34,958,920

Waste Management

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of recycled paper it procures.

John Swinney: Three quarters of the paper purchased through the national paper agreement had a recycled content of between 80 and 100 per cent. All other paper types purchased were produced from sustainably sourced wood fibre.

Waste Management

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much paper it recycled each year over the last three years.

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much material it discarded each year over the last three years.

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much material it recycled each year over the last three years.

John Swinney: The latest information on waste arisings including paper recycling is detailed in the Scottish Government Environmental Performance Annual Reports for 2005-06 to 2007-08, copies of which are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. numbers 42350, 44178 and 48458).

Waste Management

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much paper it discarded each year over the last three years.

John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-26602 on 11 September 2009, for information in respect of discarded paper that is recycled. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx .

  It is not possible to disaggregate volumes of any other papers that may have been included within the general waste stream.

Water Services

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to reduce the borrowing powers of Scottish Water during the Quality and Standards 3B period.

Stewart Stevenson: Ministers’ draft statement on the Principles of Charges made clear that they are prepared to lend Scottish Water up to £150 million per year for the next regulatory period (which runs from 2010-15). Ministers will be finalising their statement shortly. The draft statement is available at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Business-Industry/waterindustryscot/poc10to14.

Water Services

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will issue its directive to Scottish Water for the Quality and Standards 3B period.

Stewart Stevenson: Ministers intend to issue the investment directions to Scottish Water in the next few weeks to enable the Water Industry Commission for Scotland to determine customers’ charges for the period 2010-15 by 30 November 2009.

Water Services

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the Output Monitoring Group, formed by the Water Industry Commission and various stakeholders, has been effective in reducing the gap between the perceived need by stakeholders for investment and the Draft Water Industry Commission Determination.

Stewart Stevenson: The Outputs Monitoring Group is a group formed by ministers and chaired by the government. It is responsible for monitoring the delivery of the Ministers’ Objectives for the water industry as set out in the Investment Directions to Scottish Water.

  The Outputs Monitoring Group has provided advice to ministers on the investment needs for the next regulatory period 2010-15. It has not, and will not, respond to the Draft Determination. This is a matter for individual members.

Correction

The reply to question S3W-26318 which was originally answered on 31 August 2009, has been corrected: see page 7297 or http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/pqa/wa-09/wa0909.htm.